Clean Beauty Basics

Hey, Hey! How is your week going? I made some pretty big decisions this week, and I’m super excited about it. I’ll talk more about those later, but I’m really looking forward to what’s coming in the next few weeks. 🙂

One of my passions is clean beauty products and educating others on ingredient safety, so I wanted to share some of that with you!

Let’s start with some background info on how I got involved in the clean beauty business… Before I learned about Beautycounter and ingredient safety, I assumed that there were laws governing our personal care products and protecting us from “real” harm. I had heard about avoiding things like sodium laurel sulfate in shampoos, but I figured it was related to having better hair, not better health. What I learned was eye-opening and part of why I decided to become a Beautycounter consultant. I knew that so many of my friends and family also didn’t know the dangers of what’s in many commercial products, and I wanted to help keep them safe by providing education and resources. So I joined Beautycounter and have spent the last year sharing information about the personal care industry and how to clean up your beauty routine.

Today I’m going to share some of the basics to get you started; but if you’re interested in learning more please let me know! I think this would make a great post series. 🙂

The Current State of the Personal Care Industry

More than 80,000 chemicals have been introduced to the environment since 1938, and only 15% of those have been tested for human safety. The FDA technically has power over the personal care industry, but that power is extremely limited. They do not require ingredients to be tested for safety, and they cannot force brands to recall products when there is a safety concern.

Parabens (methylparaben, propylparaben, ethylparaben, and butylparaben) – used as preservatives in personal care products like makeup, hair care, moisturizer, etc. They are known hormone disruptors that can be absorbed into the skin. There have been studies recently linking parabens to breast cancer

Phtalalates(DBP, DEHP, DEP and others) – Another hormone disruptor, this one is used to help fragrances stick to skin. Because of it’s function, this chemical is frequently hidden under the term “fragrance”, which means it can be hidden in just about any product.

Fragrance – Did you know that a company’s fragrance formula is considered a trade secret? That means they’re not required to tell you what is included in that formula. There are currently over 3,000 materials that are considered fragrance compounds – including Phtalalates. Unless a brand is open about where their “fragrance” came from, do yourself a favor and put it back on the shelf.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLS and SLES) – As it turns out, avoiding these products isn’t about having better hair. They can cause skin irritation and trigger allergies. If you’re using a product that creates suds, check the ingredient list because these ingredients are most likely present.

Formaldehyde – yes, that’s right. They same stuff they use in the embalming process can be found in personal care products! It usually present when these preservatives are listed on the label: quaternium-15, DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea, diazolidinyl urea, sodium hydroxymethylglycinate, 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3 diol (Bronopol)